“Are you kidding me?” He heard what sounded like a hiss through her teeth. “Who does stuff like that?”
“Well, we’re hoping the police can find out, but to be honest, it’s possible they won’t be able to. However, we gave them the footage from the security cameras we had installed around the place.”
“I thought you were being a little over the top wanting all that security in place before the building was even finished. I didn’t think someone would try to break in for no reason at all.”
“Well, I’m not sure they were trying to break-in, though it’s not unheard of for idiots to try and rip off tools and such from building sites. I get the feeling that this was possibly someone—or someones—who just couldn’t resist a big shiny glass wall.”
“Does this mean it might happen again?” Belle asked.
“We’ve ordered a different sort of window this time. It will be unbreakable—at least from things like rocks. The broken part is covered for now with plywood, but the new window should be installed in a couple of weeks. We’ll still be okay for the deadline since we’ll just keep doing the other work as planned and then install the new window when it comes.”
“It sounds like you’ve got it all under control.”
“We have. It’s not the first time we’ve dealt with something like this which is why we insist on insurance and security even on empty buildings. We’re going to add additional floodlights around the building so that if someone gets too close, the place will be lit up like the stadium.”
Belle let out a little laugh. “Hopefully that will scare them off.”
“Here’s hoping.” Mitch relaxed back into his seat, thankful that she didn’t seem all that upset by what he’d had just told her. “How’s your week going?”
“We’re gearing up for a two-wedding weekend. Both of them are weddings for which we’ve done all the planning.”
“By we do you actually mean you? Or do you have someone that helps you out?”
“Yeah. I do most of the work though Jasmine sometimes helps with phone calls to vendors for confirmations and such. I also have a couple of women who help me out at the weddings where we’re responsible for everything.” Belle hesitated. “Mom told me I need to hire someone to help. A permanent assistant, instead of the women who help me out sometimes, grateful for a bit of overtime. I’d do that…except I don’t really have time to interview people at the moment. That may be something I’ll have to take care of when wedding season slows down.”
“A bit of a catch-22, eh? Need to take the time to find someone to help you because you’re so busy, but you’re too busy to do it.”
Belle laughed. “Exactly. Here’s hoping I survive.”
“Has it always been this busy?”
“No, but each year it gets busier and busier. Mom handed the business to me over four years ago when she married Patrick, and at that point it was still fairly manageable.”
“You’re doing a great job if the business is that much in demand.”
“I’d like to think we give the people who come to us what they want. It’s a heavy weight, trying to meet the expectation of what people want for the most important day of their life. To not just interpret their desires, but also to carry them out.”
“Though obviously we’re not helping people carry out their expectations for the best day of their life, we do have some of the same issues as we help people design and then build their dream homes. Or not even their dream homes. Sometimes their vision for the home they want for their business.”
“Like mine?”
“Yes.” Mitch stared out the front window, rubbing his hand down his thigh. “I didn’t want to have to tell you about what happened with the window. I knew it would just add stress to your day.”
“I appreciate your concern, but from the start, you’ve assured me that you’d take care of everything. From the sounds of things, you are doing just that.”
A warmth spread through Mitch at her words. For some reason, it was important for her to know that she could trust him. That she could depend on him to carry out the plans she’d agreed to.
“We are, and we’ll continue to. I just hope I don’t need to contact you again about something like this.”
“That makes two of us,” Belle said. “But if you do, don’t hesitate to call me. I’m stronger than I look. I can handle hearing about the bad stuff.”
“Oh, I didn’t think you couldn’t handle it, I just didn’t want you to have to. I mean, no one wants to add stress to someone’s life. I’ll just be praying that we have no more situations like this. Only positive stuff, from here on out.”
Belle laughed again. “Well, if you find a way to guarantee that, be sure and let me know because I could definitely use that information.”
“I don’t know how to guarantee anything, but I do know how to build and pray.”
When Belle didn’t reply right away, Mitch wondered if he’d been too upfront. Not everyone was comfortable when he mentioned things about his faith. But surely that wouldn’t be an issue since her step-father had prayed before their dinner at the restaurant and no one had seemed to mind. Still, something had made Belle fall silent.
“Well, I should probably let you get back to work. Just wanted to bring you up to speed on what had happened here at the site.”
“Thank you, Mitch. I really do appreciate being kept in the loop. Hope the rest of your week goes smoothly.”
“Yours too.”
After they said goodbye, Mitch sat for a moment trying to figure out what had caused the weird lapse in their communication. But without knowing Belle better, he really had no clue.
After he checked his emails, he started up the truck and headed for their other major project site. He split his time between the two major work locations with a quick tour of their other sites at the end of each day. Thankfully, he had two other employees like Mark who he relied on to help him keep track of the jobs, but he still felt responsible to track progress at each site.
Most days he felt like he performed well at his job given that he was the only one of the adult children in his family who hadn’t gone to university after high school. Well, that was aside from Kenton, who made millions without having a college degree. There were some days that Mitch struggled to feel qualified for what he did. But he had had plenty of on the job training from one of the best in the business—his dad—and thankfully, it seemed he had a knack for what he did.
Still, at times he wondered when the day would come when there would be a job that he couldn’t handle for some reason. He knew that Bennett or Ethan or even his dad would be more than willing to step in and help him out, but he didn’t want it to ever come to that point.
And on this job in particular—Belle’s project—he wanted to prove that he was definitely the man for the job.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Belle stood on the sidewalk and looked through the windows of the building. Not the big ones overlooking the river, but the smaller windows by the main entrance. After Mitch’s call to let her know about the broken window, she’d tried to stay away from the site and just let him deal with it. But in the end, she couldn’t. So she’d actually taken a lunch break and come to see the damage for herself.
With a sigh, she turned away from the entrance and walked around the end of the building to where the broken window would be. She stared first at the plywood that had been nailed in place then lifted her gaze to the large windows on the second floor. A smile curved the corners of her mouth as she took in the view.
Though the plywood marred the overall picture, it was hard to ignore the beauty of the large window that remained unscathed. Even with the plywood, she could imagine how nice the building would look when the other window was back in place.
Eager to see how it would look from the inside, Belle hurried as fast as her heels would allow her back around to the entrance. She was just about to pull open the door when she remembered that Mitch had told her that she needed to we
ar her hard hat when on site. She backtracked to her car and popped open the trunk.
After retrieving her pretty purple hard hat, Belle gently settled it on her head, hoping it wouldn’t mess her hair up too much since she still had to go back to the office for a meeting. She headed back to the door and pulled it open. Immediately, the smells and sounds of the work site assaulted her senses.
Belle stood for a moment, listening to the whir of saws and drills and the sounds of conversations held in raised voices, no doubt in order to be heard above the rest of the noise. There was the smell of sawdust mixed with the pungent aroma of hot metal. These were all things that were foreign to her at a workplace, but she loved them nonetheless because they represented the future of her business coming to life.
She placed a hand on the top of her hat so that she could look up at the second floor. When she heard someone call her name, Belle looked down again and saw the foreman Mitch had introduced her to coming toward her.
“Nice to see you again, Miss Jacobs,” he said with a smile.
“Please. Just call me Belle. And it’s a pleasure to see you again as well, Mark.” She returned her gaze to the upper floor. “It looks like you’re making quite a bit of progress.”
“For the most part. That window was a step forward and two back, but we’ll get that taken care of as soon as the new window is delivered.”
“Can I see the second floor?”
“Sure, but if you’d like to wait a minute or two, Mitch is on his way here. He’s just been on another site before coming to this one.” Mark scratched his chin. “Or I can show you, if you can’t wait.”
Belle knew she should take him up on his offer because then she would be gone before Mitch showed up, but instead she found herself telling Mark that she’d wait.
“That’s good. I think he’d rather be the one to show you around, actually.”
Apparently Mitch had been as close as Mark had predicted because she hadn’t even had time to move from the foyer area before the entrance door opened again. She turned to see Mitch walk in, a yellow hard hat on his head.
He came to a halt when he spotted her there but then moved to stand next to Mark, a smile on his face. “Belle. I didn’t know you were coming today.”
Belle crossed her arms as she smiled in return, hoping she hadn’t misunderstood the blanket invitation he’d given her on the day she’d come to help with the demo. “I thought I could resist coming to see the damage, but I couldn’t.”
Mitch glanced over at the plywood covered window and frowned. “It is rather ugly.”
“Maybe, but the second floor one isn’t. Can I go up there and have a look?”
“Sure thing. C’mon.” Mitch waved for her to follow him and together they climbed the wide staircase to the second floor.
“How long until you move the staircase?” Belle asked as they reached the second floor.
“We have to set up a few more load-bearing walls downstairs then we can do what we need to up here. Once that’s done, we’ll build the next staircase into place.” He paused on the landing at the top of the stairs. “So? What do you think of this window?”
Belle swung around and smiled as she took in the view of the river. “This is beautiful. The window. The view. All of it is so lovely. Tristan did such a good job with the design. And you and your men are carrying it out beautifully.”
“It will look even more amazing when that lower level window is in place.”
She glanced over at him to find him staring at the lower level with a frown, his hands on his hips. “Are you still upset about the broken window?”
He looked over at her, his frown still in place. “Well, sure. Aren’t you?”
“Not really. I realize that because it’s part of your job, it’s more annoying for you. I’m not happy about it, but I’d be more upset if a bridal bouquet fell apart moments before a wedding was to start. You’ll have the window taken care of in good time, I’m sure.”
Mitch nodded. “You’re right. We will. It’s just the inconvenience and the annoyance of it.”
“That’s what I figured.” Belle gave him a wide smile. “Now. I have a few minutes left before I have to be back at the office. Is there anything else I should see?”
“Well, nothing too significant, but how about a quick tour of the downstairs?”
On the main floor, Mitch directed her around piles of lumber and other tools. “As you can see, nothing too major has been done here, but we’re working on the load-bearing walls. Then we’ll be framing the walls dividing the changing areas from the dress room. I have a couple of the men working in the basement. They’re framing up the bathrooms as well as the employee area and the alteration rooms.”
“Sounds like everything is well underway,” Belle said, pleased to hear about the progress, even if it wasn’t hugely apparent yet.
“Come back in a week, and you’ll see even more evidence of my guys’ hard work.”
“Is that your way of asking me not to come back for a few days?” Belle asked as they walked to the front entrance.
Mitch came to a halt, forcing Belle to turn back around. He had a slightly horrified look on his face. “No. That’s not what I meant at all.”
Belle smiled to let him know she had been teasing. “I’ll be back sometime next week.”
“I’ll be sure that there’s something more to show you.”
“I’m not trying to pressure you. I just like seeing even the little bits of progress because it is…progress.”
Mitch pushed open the door then held it for her to follow him outside. Once he let the door swing shut, the construction sounds were immediately muffled and replaced by the sounds of traffic.
It was a beautiful spring afternoon with enough leaves on the nearby trees that the breeze caused a rustling sound. Now that they had moved past the messy part of spring—the part where the snow melted leaving dirt and dead grass behind—the city was beginning to look more attractive.
Fall was Belle’s favorite season. She loved the cooler temperatures, the color of the turning leaves, the shortening of the days and, finally, the relief from a busy spring and summer season of weddings. It was like she could take a deep breath, and then slowly let it out.
But in spite of that, Belle could still appreciate the warmth of spring after a colder than usual winter. Even if life was hectic enough to drive her crazy.
“Do you have a busy weekend lined up?” Mitch asked as they walked toward her car.
“Thankfully, just one wedding and a simple one, at that. It’s a Saturday afternoon wedding with a small reception that doesn’t require my presence.”
“So what are you doing with all your extra time?” Mitch asked as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his faded jeans.
“Laundry, most likely,” Belle said, pulling off the hard hat and fluffing her hair gently. She popped the trunk and returned the hat to the place she’d taken it from earlier.
“Would you like to go out for dinner Saturday night?”
Belle straightened, her arm lifted to close the trunk. She took a moment to close it, then turned to face Mitch. She didn’t want to assume, but she also didn’t want there to be any misunderstanding between them.
“Do you mean like a…”
“A date?” Mitch said, his expression serious. “Yes.”
She looked away for a moment before meeting his gaze once again. “I don’t date. I don’t have the time.”
That was sort of the truth…or at least as much of the truth as she was prepared to share. He seemed to be smart though. Maybe, given what he knew of her and Andre, he would put it together.
“It seems like you have a little time this weekend,” Mitch pointed out. “For dinner.”
Belle could hear the voices of her mom and sisters urging her to accept the invitation. That alone, should make her turn down Mitch’s invitation. “I don’t date.”
Mitch’s mouth curved up at one corner. “So you’ve said.”
&
nbsp; “Dinner. Just dinner.” She needed him to understand that this couldn’t be anything serious. “Not a date.”
“Sure. Just dinner.” He raised a hand, as if swearing an oath. “I promise.”
“Okay. Let me know where.” Although, even as she agreed, Belle had to wonder what she was doing. What was the sense in going out for dinner if it wasn’t a date?
“I could pick you up,” Mitch suggested.
“Not a date, remember?” Belle pointed out.
Mitch chuckled as he shook his head. “I already know you have wealthy parents.”
“What?”
“It’s just that when Gabe started dating Maya, she would never let him pick her up. We didn’t realize, at the time, that she was the daughter of wealthy parents, so she was trying to hide the huge mansion she lived in.”
“Well, the only reason I’m not giving you my apartment address is because, unlike Gabe and Maya, we’re not dating. No other reason.”
Mitch smiled. “That’s reassuring.”
“So you’ll let me know where to meet you?” Belle asked as she moved around to the driver’s side.
“You can count on it.”
“Not a date, remember?”
Mitch’s grin grew. “I remember.”
Belle lifted a hand before getting into her car. As she drove away, she looked in her mirror and saw Mitch standing watching her, hands in his pockets. No doubt dinner was a mistake. A huge, ginormous mistake. But she was going to make it because it had been a long time since she’d enjoyed an evening out with a guy. And Mitch seemed like a safe guy to spend time with.
It was just dinner, after all.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Mitch was at a bit of a loss to figure out where to take Belle on their non-date. Given how determined she’d been to make sure he understood it wasn’t a date, he couldn’t very well turn around and take her to a super romantic restaurant. So it would have to be a place where they could talk but not be too intimate.
“How about Montana’s or Boston Pizza?” Gabe asked. “I don’t think anyone would class those as super romantic even though they can be good places to go on a date.”
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